Wizz Air roams into Russia from Luton

Jonathan Pollard, CCO Luton Airport, and Owain Jones, MD Wizz Air UK, celebrate the launch of London/Luton-Moscow and St Petersburg flights with this impressive street art piece. Wizz Air is now the largest airline at Luton, with a 40% market share.

Wizz Air this week launched its first flights between London Luton (LTN) and Russia. Daily services are offered to Moscow Vnukovo (VKO) and St Petersburg Pulkovo (LED). Both are operated by the carrier’s A321 aircraft, with no other carriers connecting the airports from Luton. However, the city pairs themselves have seen significant evolution in recent years.

Source: OAG Schedules Analyser

Demand between St Petersburg and London has grown sharply in the past three years, from 117,000 seats in 2017 to 237,000 in 2019 despite BA exiting the market this year. This can be explained by Rossiya’s reentry at Gatwick and Wizz Air’s new connection from Luton.

Source: OAG Schedules Analyser

The London-Moscow market has been more volatile in recent years. easyJet offered a double daily service between Gatwick and Moscow/Domodedovo from 2013 until 2016. In 2018/19, both BA and Aeroflot reduced capacity between the two capitals, partially offset by Wizz Air’s launch. Click here to see our recent interview with Wizz Air UK’s MD, Owain Jones.